TSoT: Kalahari Popcorn I – Toffee

TSoT = The Story of Trees

Today, as I was looking at matters relating to my topic, I learned new idioms or expressions. If you are toffee-nosed, it means that you are a bit upper classy. Feel free to go dine among the toffee-nosed snobs. I'm going to the pub, can be found in the link that follows. Toffee - Idioms by The Free Dictionary The other side of this toffee “slang” is that you are actually lacking ability. For example, she can’t sing for toffee, and he cannot remember anyone’s name for toffee. 

Toffee in a comfortable setting.

Now that we have built a toffee bridge from the upper classes to the inept people, we can now look at the sweet issue at stake, namely the palatable sweet or candy. Which child can refuse a toffee, especially those who are wrapped in beautiful paper? As adults, some of us have become slightly suspicious of this sticky situation, because if you have a few fillings, you may just have to see the dentist before the scheduled appointment. My sister-in-law once gave me a box of liquorice and they were Darling Toffees (Home - Darling Sweet | Evita Se Perron). I was delighted with my gift, until I had to stop eating because of an urgent dental appointment for which I had to travel 120km. Here is a link that encourages us to stay away from certain foods, and I assume a dentist wrote it, 3 Foods to Avoid After Dental Filling Treatment | Dental Blog.

Toffee in the kitchen

Where do toffees come from? It seems as if toffees stem from Wales according to the source I consulted, History of English Toffee - Cache Toffee Collection. After reading the article in the link I was left with the impression that toffees in the English world are slightly different to those we grew up with in South Africa. I never had the privilege to enjoy brittle or crunchy toffees as a child or those types of sweet textures were not referred to as toffees in our context. We are well acquainted with those types that take a long time to chew, and we had to “fight” with them. The Wilson brand is a middle-class favourite. (Champion Toffee 112s | Sweet City - Chocolates | Sweets | Drinks | Corporate Gifts)

Obviously nowadays with all the artisanal enterprises mushrooming, one gets used to a new take on textures and palatable combinations, and one gets a glimpse of possible combinations in this link: The Top Toffee of 2024 and Awards Winners Announced – International Chocolate Salon and Artisan Chocolate Awards. Perhaps you have chef aspirations, and you want to give toffee making a try. Here is a recipe that may just serve you well, Best Toffee Ever - Super Easy Recipe. Who can forget toffee apples? Well, I found a song about. Enjoy listening Peter Combe, Peter Combe - Toffee Apple.

I found a delightful poetic toffee piece:

Toffee

If all the world were made of toffee

we'd be stuck together in a sticky heap

and all we'd do is eat!

(Source: If all the world were made of toffee or toasted moon sandwiches | Poetry Box)

Toffee done with watercolour, pen and ink, and acrylic inks.

Let me look at my little artwork, Toffee. The trunk divides the picture plane diagonally in half and the pointillistic effect casts a soft lace-effect. The large vegetation shape below the trunk, which is almost the centre of the provides visual weight. When one is busy with a series of small works one becomes rather distant towards the collection as one pursues the finish line. Now it is almost seven years later, and I hope I can be more objective looking at these works. A work on paper does not carry the same grandeur as the traditional oil on canvas work, unless one is Picasso of course, but what I particularly enjoy about this scene (speaking as an abstract expressionist) is the quiet foreground that does not compete with the busy branches and the sky. The eye does need a little “sweet” rest too.

This another example of my Blisseria series. A little bit of visual "candy".

I hope there is a toffee or two somewhere in your domain or that you are near a candy store. Always remember there is Art in your heArt. Until next time, enjoy a sweet time.